Mike Moran: Expect the endless spin of casino referendum ads

Does that sound like a half-baked prediction from a stale fortune cookie, or maybe a lame horoscope ripped from the pages of your favorite supermarket tabloid?

Mike MoranHerald News Columnist

You will soon find yourself deeply involved in an intense courtship.

Does that sound like a half-baked prediction from a stale fortune cookie, or maybe a lame horoscope ripped from the pages of your favorite supermarket tabloid?

Well you can believe it — it’s true. Not only will your affections soon be pursued with great intensity, but there will actually be two suitors competing to win your heart. And they both want you to enter into a committed, longterm relationship.

What’s all this about? Well now that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has decided to allow a question on November’s ballot that seeks to repeal the law permitting casinos in the Bay State, the resulting fight is expected to be intense. And right in the middle of what promises to be an emotional tug at the heartstrings will be you.

The court’s decision has given the financially well-heeled powers on both sides of the casino issue a powerful incentive to get their message out and influence your vote. Each side will tell you that they, and only they, hold the key to a bright future. Massachusetts voters will be asked, for what seems like the 100th time, to align themselves either for or against casinos. And the result of the vote could potentially bring the gambling debate, at least temporarily, to a dead stop.

So where does the courtship come in? The placement of a binding ballot question about the future of gambling in Massachusetts will bring with it a barrage of media advertising that will make our heads spin like a roulette wheel. Ads both praising and condemning casinos will flicker from every television and blare from every radio. And it won’t be pretty.

Imagine you and your family settling down to a relaxing evening of primetime television, presuming families still do that. You want to shake off the stress of the day and tune out the real world, right? What you will soon see sprinkled among the sitcoms, crime dramas and reality shows will be wall-to-wall ads — those boring, manipulative, emotional appeals that make 30 seconds seem like an eternity.

All of the tricks we’ve come to know in the slimy world of political advertising will be in evidence. Cue the ominously scary music, the unflattering black and white photos, and the breathy deep-voiced announcer who will tell us that a casino in Massachusetts will mark the end of all that is good and decent.

On the other side will be the bright, colorful, positive ads showing all the benefits that a new destination resort casino will bring. We’ll see hard-working construction crews earnestly plying their trade, a new coat of pavement for Main Street, and fresh-faced schoolchildren whose dingy overcrowded classrooms will be transformed thanks to an infusion of casino revenue.

All over the country, a floodtide of money has been spent on such campaigns. The American Gaming Association has been very active nationally. Gaming sounds much classier than gambling, doesn’t it? I suspect they’re ready to open the spigot here in Massachusetts too. And this lobby will likely square off against Massachusetts-based groups like Repeal the Casino Deal and another called United to Stop Slots.

So get ready. Expect the “for” and “against” ads to run in heavy rotation, as they say in the advertising business, sometimes even back to back. You’ll see them so often that you’ll be able to recite the script right along with each ad as they are branded into your brain. Those on both sides truly want you, need you, and love, love, love you.

The campaign spots are bound to be slick, well-packaged and more plentiful than hungry mosquitos on a hot July evening. But I offer no prediction regarding which side will ultimately prevail. Shifts in public opinion, particularly on emotional issues like gambling, are as predictable as New England weather.

The only guarantee is that once the November election is over, we in the general public — the people on both sides of this contentious issue — will be happy about one thing, regardless of which side wins. We’ll rejoice that the bombardment of casino ads will finally, thankfully and mercifully be over.

Mike Moran is a well-known SouthCoast media personality. Email him at mikemoranfr@aol.com.